Assuror of one-half to



-t-ities of iron and lead.

ii rrsn S'rirras PATENT Erica...

il'. jiilTRRrrY, ()F lTli lNVER, COLORADO iASSliiNOlt Oh ONllliALF T9OSCAR F. MYERS,

zinc seem assess-s s v means or cases} SPECIEICATION forming part ofLetters Patent No. 350,148, dated October-5, 1886.

Application lilel fune 3, 1885. Serhtl NmifiI-Hl. (X0 spccimci'is.)

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that i, CiInRLns H. Muniu'sqa citizen of the United States,residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and the State of(Zolorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inExtracting Zinc from its Ores by Means of Gases; and '1 do herebydeclare ih t the following is a full, clear, and exact description or"the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itap containing the ore, and these inclosing-ves sels, being subjected toa very high temperature, are in consequence liable to frequent breakageand loss of material. Another difficulty ensues in cases where such oresare treated for zinc as contain considerable quan- As theretorts areheated on their outside by an enveloping flame or gas of veryhightemperature, the material of which they are composedis broughtalmost to a stale of lusion and in that condition readily forms achemical union with any lead or ironprotoxide in the interior of thevessel, which has the ei't'ect to flux or slag the retort,

lll1lklllg holes through it and causing its rapid destruction. In thisprocess I wholly abandon the heating of the retorts from their exteriorand rely for the distillationof the zinc upon forcing throng theprepared ores a very highly-heated gas of the requisite physicalconstitution, and to rcnder theprocess efi'ect ive the reducing gasesthat are applied to the ore in the retort are brought up to andconserved at very high or incandescent heat by being forced. understrong pressure over iiitenseiy heated surfaces of tile or fire-brickwithout permitting any combustion of said 1' ases by fresh or freeoxygen at any stage m The nails of the iuclosingretort are lit-pt at 1;temperature below that at The me ns o c r ing which iron or leadcombines with the material of which they are composed by'incans ofinclosing contiguous water-jackets. The gases 7 employed to effect thedistillation of the metal 55 after being brought to the requisitely hightemperature are everywhere protected from. coming into contact withrapidly conducting or cooling surfaces, and carry with them into theoreretort sufficient heat to separate the 60 zinc and bear it as a vaporinto the condensingreceptaclcs. The subjection of the ores to thismethod accomplishes the reduction, distillation, and condensation of themetal to a liquid state in one and the same operation, and the work iscontinuous and uninterrupted, as there is no shifting of vesselsorrehandlingnnd see- .ondary working of the products.

1 am aware that ores have been heretofore" inclosed in tight retorts andby the aid of heated gases pressed through them the volatile metals theycontain have been expelled in a state of chemical combination with otherelements, and l-hcscsublimed productsor'conipounds have beensubsequently condensed in a separate apparatus, and the metals they.carry have beenall'erwarll rcdruecd by some suitable reduciugagent; butmy process differs from such operations in avoiding a sec-. ondarytreatment,'aml recovers the zinc in a metallic form in a single anddirect operation.

I am also aware that the easily-reducible metallic o vidcssuch as reduceat from 1,300 to 1, 7 00 l ah renheit, or at red heal-have been treatedand reduced by currents of gas previously heated; but nowhere have iseen it, incntioned nor am i. aware, that zincwhich requires anabsolutely white heat forits reduction and special appliances forbringing the gases to such a temperature and for maintaining the samehasbeenheretofore successfully simultaneously reduced and distilled in oneand the same operation, and the zinc recovered in ametallic state by theapplication 0! white-hot gases so protected as to conserve their heatand rendered more ellicient by working under pressure.

It is further conceded that zinc ores have been heretofore spread in afurnace and reducing'gases generated outside of such furnace and passedinto the same over the ores spread therein, and part of such hare beenburned in said furnace by admitting fresh air thereto with the purposeof heating the nonburned port-ion of such gases to the temperaturerequired to cause the evaporation of the metallic zinc; but my processdiffers from the foregoing, in that I place the ores in a tight. retortfrom which all air is carefully excluded,

and press through them superheated red u c-i ng' gases, no portion ofwhich is subjected to combustion by fresh air or free oxygen at anystage of the operation; 4

Having fully detailed the peculiarities of my invention, what I claim,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a process for distilling zinc from its ores,

effecting its distillation by forcing through such ores superheatedreducing-gases, which gases are prevented from burning with fresh air orfree oxygen at any stage of the operation,

either before or after they have entered tho- 20 ore-retort, and bypressure and-the imposed high temperature, in combination with saidreducing-gases, effecting the reduction, distillation, and condensationof the metal in a 'OHARLES Il. MURRAY. '7

Witnesses:

CHARLES I. DAVENPORT. JAMES C. HARLEY.

